Ch-30 The Flag Race Begins

Fifteen teams have made it through to the second round. Once all the teams had settled, Baki announced the rules for the next stage of the competition. "You can see that tower over there," he said, "You must reach it by evening. Along the way, you'll encounter ten flags that is inside the houses between the starting point and the tower you must collect and bring those flags to the tower. Only the teams that have flags will qualify, and the others will be disqualified. It's not just about finding the flags; you must also ensure their safe delivery to the tower. Remember, there is to be no killing during the fights, and the ninjas from Sunagakure will be keeping a close eye on everyone here."

Baki's words made Jake turn to his comrades and say, "We cannot fight amongst ourselves. If any of us already have two flags and come across another team that needs a flag to qualify, we must give them one. However, we must not fight among ourselves, and whoever finds a flag first gets to keep it."

Emiko also heard Jake's words, nodded, and smiled at the group. 

"Okay, everyone, get ready and head to the starting point. The race will begin shortly," announced Baki.

Upon hearing Baki's words, each contestant made their way towards the starting point.

"The race begins," declared Baki as soon as all the qualified teams reached the starting point.

As soon as Baki finished speaking, all the contestants scattered in different directions and entered various buildings to find the flags. Initially, no one fought since everyone had to collect all the flags first before they could fight over them.

After fifteen minutes, a team of Genins from Sunagakure found a flag.

"We found a flag!" exclaimed one member of the team.

"Quiet down. What's wrong with you?" scolded the team leader.

The team member who spoke covered their mouth.

"Okay, let's move out before someone hears us," said the leader.

The other two members of the team nodded in agreement and started to leave.

Two teams of Uchiha Karan's soldiers encountered each other not far from where the ninja team from Sunagakure found a flag.

"Have you found any flags yet?" inquired Alex, the captain of one of the teams, as he approached the other team.

The other team exchanged suspicious glances before responding.

"Yes, we found one flag already. What about you guys?" replied the team captain.

"We haven't found any yet, but we're searching for it," said Alex with a grin.

"Alright, you guys head to the tower. We'll catch up after we find the flag," suggested Alex.

The other team nodded in agreement before parting ways.

While searching through the buildings, Alex's acute hearing picked up the sound of approaching footsteps. He quickly signaled his team to take cover and observe. After hiding, they spotted a team of Sunagakure Genins carrying one of the flags.

Alex chuckled and admitted, "I thought I was unlucky and couldn't find the flag." The rest of the team grinned in response to Alex's words.

"Who?!"said the captain of the Sunagakure team of Genins.

Emerging from their hiding spot, Alex and his team stood before the Sunagakure team.

Alex, with a serious expression, faced the opposing Sunagakure team. He cleared his throat and spoke in a firm tone, "I'm going to give you two options to choose from. The first option is that you surrender the flag willingly and peacefully. The second option is that we take the flag from you by force, which may result in some pain and injuries. Therefore, I advise you to weigh your options carefully before you make a decision."

Upon hearing Alex's statement, the captain of the Sunagakure team quickly concealed the flag behind his back and defiantly declared, "We will never surrender the flag to you."

With a sigh, Alex remarked, "Why do you have to make things difficult?" He then shifted his gaze towards his teammates and instructed, "Leave them to me, everyone. Just watch."

Upon hearing Alex's words, his teammates quickly stepped back and made room for him to engage in combat without any hindrance.

Alex gestured with a crooked finger towards the Sunagakure team.

Observing Alex's confident demeanor, the Sunagakure team felt a sense of humiliation, but they gathered their resolve and prepared themselves for the impending battle.

"Use all of your strength and attack him!" the captain ordered.

Upon hearing the command, the Sunagakure team took out their Kunai and launched a coordinated attack on Alex from different angles. However, Alex effortlessly dodged all of their attempts with ease and kept his hand in his pocket throughout. The captain realized that Alex was a formidable adversary and couldn't be defeated so easily, so he decided to resort to his trump card.

"Keep him occupied with your attacks while I use a ninjutsu!" the captain instructed his teammates, determined to turn the tide of the battle in their favor.

The two other Genin nodded in agreement upon hearing the captain's plan and gave it their all to restrain Alex. Meanwhile, Alex was curious to see what kind of ninjutsu a Genin like the captain could muster, so he played along and let himself be engaged in the battle.

The captain started using hand seals 

"Tiger → Ox → Dog → Rabbit → Snake"

"Step aside, both of you!" the captain yelled at the other two Genin.

And released a C-Rank wind ninjutsu 

"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough"

The other two Genin quickly obeyed their captain's orders and retreated from the battle, leaving Alex standing alone. The captain of the Sunagakure team was pleased to see Alex's inaction, and he summoned a strong gust of wind to attack him. The wind was powerful enough to inflict serious harm on a Genin, but Alex's strength was comparable to a Jonin's, so he remained unscathed, he just used his chakra to remain attached to the ground.

"As expected."said Alex.

Alex took out his sword from his sheath and used instantaneous technique and disappeared and reappeared where he was standing initially but this time he had a flag in his hand and all the Genins who faught him had a slash mark on their body and a huge amount of blood was gushing out of the slash wound, with an unbelievable look on their face they fell down. 

After sheathing his sword, Alex turned to his left and addressed, "Take them away from here immediately. Their injuries are severe, and they could die. I don't want to be blamed for it."

In response to Alex's command, one of Chunin from Sunagakure appeared using an instantaneous technique. The Chunin from Sunagakure glared at Alex with intense hatred, but he suppressed it knowing that the speed displayed by Alex was enough to kill him in mere seconds.

However, before the Chunin from Sunagakure could move to take the injured Genin from his village away, he suddenly felt a sharp sword pressed against his neck.

One of Alex's teammates spoke up, "If this weren't an exam, you would have been killed for showing such murderous intent towards Alex or any of us."

"When?" The Chunin from Sunagakure asked, confused. He was certain that he saw this team member standing far from Alex, but now the team member had appeared in front of him in an instant. This showed that the team member's strength was even above that of a Chunin. The Chunin swallowed his saliva in fear.

The Chunin quickly picked up all of the injured Genin and swiftly ran away.